Cutting mechanism.



PATENTED FEB. 2'7, 1906.

W. A. SYLVESTER. CUTTING MECHANISM. APPLICATION FILED NOV. 4, 1904.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Feb. 27, 1906.

' Application filed November 4, 1904. Serial No. 231,328.

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that LWILLIAM A. SYLVESTER, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of Reading, in the county of Middlesex and State of Massachusetts, have invented an Improvement in Cutting-Nippers, of which the following description, in connection with the accompanying drawings, is a specification, like characters on the drawings representing like parts.

This invention has for its object the production of novel cutting-nippers having arcshaped or circular cutting-bits, any part of the edges of which bits are capable of being used, according to the position of the wire, nail, rod, rivet, or bolt to be cut oif.

Heretofore cutting-nippers have been provided with straight bits which have been so mounted on the jaws that they might be ad justed to place the edges of the bits at any desired relation to the jaws as required, so that the bits should occupy a definite position in order that the nail, wire, &c., might be engaged between the bits and be cut off, it being customary to project the end of the jaws into a space to cut off a nail, wire, &c.

' Figure 1 in side elevation represents cutting-nippers embodying my invention, the same being shown as opened. Fig. 2 is a plan view of one of the nipper-jaws. Fig. 3 is a transverse section through one of the jaws. Fig. 4 shows the back of the bit detached from the jaw, and Fig. 5 shows an under side view of Fig. 4.

' The nipper comprises jaws A A, one having one circular projection or ear a, and the other two such circular projections (1/. The ears are centrally perforated for the reception of a pivot-pin or fulcrum a Each jaw is shaped to present a smooth or fiat seat or face a and at one side a shoulder a The seat or face receives upon it the smoothor flat back of the cutting-bit (1, shown as a steel block having at its outer or acting side an arc-shaped or circular edge a suitably sharpened, as shown in Fig. 3, to form a cutting edge which extends transversely to the jaw, or, in other words, transversely to the longitudinal axis of the nippers. Each block presents two edges 2 3, substantially at right angles one to the other, and preferably a a boss e, having a tapped or threaded hole in which enters the screw-threaded end of a bolt 4, extended through ahole in the outer end of the jaw at right angles to the pin a When the bit is placed on the seat of a jaw, the

edge 2 abuts a shoulder a of the jaw. The bolt may be pushed through the hole in the jaw and be made to engage the screw-threaded part of the bit and when turned draw the bit firmly upon the seat a in working position.

It will be noticed that any part of the arcshaped or circular edge of the bit between its ends 6 7 may be put in contact with a wire, bolt, or other thing to be cut and the jaws be closed. In some nippers with which I am familiar it is necessary to adjust the bits on the jaws in order to make cuts in all locations, the bits being adjusted into one position for making certain cuts and in another position for making other cuts. A nipper embodying my invention, however, is capable of being usedfor cutting a wire, bolt, or any other thing in almost any location where the thing to be out can be reached by the cutting edge of the nippers without the necessity of making any adjustment of the bits on the aws.

Each jaw A A is shown as bifurcated at its rear end to receive a short arm I) of like hand-levers B B, free to be turned upon the pin b. The short arm of the levers are jointed to the ends of the jaws by pins 17 Each hand-lever has a boss 6 that forms a seat for a spring'c, acting normally to separate the hand-levers and separate the bits. One of the hand-levers is provided with an abutment 0, and the other has a hollow boss 0 provided, as shown, with an adjusting-screw a constituting a regulating device, the adjustment of said regulating device arresting the closing movement of the hand-levers when cutting off a wire or bolt, so that the edges of the bits will not contact injuriously one with the other.

Prior to my invention I am not aware that nippers for cutting off metal articles have ever presented opposed arc-shaped or partial circular cutting-bits extending transversely to the jaws, whereby any portion of the length of the edges of said bits are available for cutting off a wire, nail, rod, rivet, or

bolt in any position or in any corner, as the inside of a box or drawer, or any space in which the ends of the jaws may be entered. Nippers having bits of the class herein shown may be used to take the place of, say, three usual nippers, each nipper, respectively, being formed for cutting at the end, side, or at an angle.

Viewing Fig. 2, it will be noticed that one lIO side of the jaw through which the screw 4 is inserted is slabbed off to present a surface 10 which is parallel with the edge 3 of the bit and preferably in alinement therewith, such shape of jaw and bit making it possible to cut off a nail or rivet in a close corner and flush with the stock throiwh which the nail or rivet is inserted. It wifi be obvious that if both sides of the front ends of the jaw were round, as shown by the portion 12 of the jaw, Fig. 2, it would be impossible to cut as closely as when the jaw has a flat side, as at 10.

The cutters herein shown may be made from a rod or bar of steel, the latter being held in an automatic screw-machine, so that the cutter having a bit such as herein described, which possesses the advantages stated over ordinary straight-edge bits, may be as cheaply, if not more cheaply, made than the usual straight bits.

Having fully described my invention, What I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

1. A pair of nippers having jaws, each provided with a detachable cutting-bit having an arc-shaped or circular cutting edge, disposed transversely thereof.

2. In a pair of nippers, two opposed jaws, and cutting-bits having arc-shaped edges detachably secured to said jaws and incapable of adjustment thereon said arc-shaped edges being disposed transversely of the jaws.

3. In cutting-nippers, a pair of pivoted jaws each having a flat side face, a cuttingbit detachably secured to each jaw, each cutting-bit having a flat side in alinement with the flat face of the corresponding jaw, and an arc-shaped cutting edge disposed trans= versely of the jaw.

4. In cutting-nippers, a pair of pivoted jaws, each having a fiat side face, and a cutting-bit detachably secured to each jaw but incapable of adjustment thereon, each cut tingbit having an arc-shaped cutting edge disposed transversely of the jaw, and a flat side in alinement with the fiat face of the aw.

5. In cutting-nippers, a pair of pivoted jaws, each jaw having a fiat side face, and a cutting-bit detachably secured to each jaw, each cutting-bit having a flat side in alinement with the flat face of the jaw, and an arcshaped edge extending transversely to the aws.

6. In cutting-nippers, a pair of pivoted jaws movable toward and from each other, a cutting-bit detachably secured to the inner face of each jaw, each cutting-bit having an arc-shaped cutting edge which is transverse to the longitudinal axis of the nippers.

7. In cutting-nippers, a pair of pivoted jaws, each having a rounded end, and a cutting-bit detachably secured to the inner face of each jaw, each cutting-bit having a circular cutting-edge corresponding in contour to the rounded edge of the nipper.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

WILLIAM A. SYLVESTER.

Witnesses GEO. W. GREGORY, MARGARET A. DUNN. 

